Today, The United States succeeded with assassinating Anwar al-Awlaki, a leader of Al Qaeda. He was born April 21, 1971, in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The mid 1990’s was when he traveled to The Middle East, and he married a woman from Yemen. Later, during the late 1990’s, al-Awlaki became affiliated with The Taliban, and he was an assistant to Osama bin Laden. He was known to operate and to lead terrorist forces within the Arabian peninsula. Also, he was fervent in encouraging attacks against The United States, as well as making regular calls to begin Jihad.

A drone missile was successful in blowing up al-Awlaki, along with Samir Khan, who also was an U.S. citizen. Their killings have been hailed as clarifications that any individuals whom stand as terrorists, and attempt to attack The U.S., will be dealt with severly. They can be killed, according to our nation’s authorizing the deaths of terrorists, and those whom plot deadly engagements against us.

Al-Awlaki’s death is hailed as “a major blow” to Al Qaeda. President Obama has congratulated our military forces for capturing and killing him. However, his death at the hands of U.S. assassins is being viewed as unpatriotic, and a violation of our national laws. Al-Awlaki was killed at the hands of U.S. forces without the opportunity for a fair trial, and without the chance to proceed through any of the legal processes afforded to criminals whom are citizens of our nation.

Texas Congressman Ron Paul has condemned the killing of al-Awlaki. Paul has stated that al-Alwaki should have been affored the opportunity to be tried through the United States judicial process, just as any other U.S. citizen would have received upon committing criminal actions. “To start assassinating American citizens without charges; we should think very seriously about this”, stated Paul.

The father of al-Alwaki filed lawsuits against President Obama, along with former C.I.A. Director, current Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, and former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. He took this legal action in an effort to protect his son from being killed. However, a federal court decision rejected the lawsuit, which left a debatable topic about whether or not U.S. citizens can be killed for crimes without being afforded proper legal action.

It likely is an issue that will remain controversial, and it will cause national uproar. As the 2012 Presidential election is nearing, the topic of having killed an U.S. citizen likely will serve as a major subject among the candidates. Surely, the assassination of al-Awlaki will be presented during debates, being posed as something about how terrorists should be handled, especially when they are born and legal U.S. residents. All citizens whom commit criminal actions are afforded the rights to legal representation, before being charged, tried, and convicted. Blatant murder, otherwise, is a crime.